1. Apathy

Criticism is often a cloak for apathy. Sometimes it’s just easier to criticize those on the field because it doesn’t COST you anything to criticize. But it does COST you something to get on the field and make a difference. Theodore Roosevelt said it well, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

2. Fear of Responsibility

Fear of responsibility and fear of accountability go hand and hand. They paralyze people and keep them from making commitments to a team. They breed individualism. Once you put your feet on the field, you become accountable to other players on the team. Folks who don’t want accountability find it easier to slump somewhere on the sidelines and play the role of spectator or hater. If you want to be part of anything God-sized and world-changing in your lifetime, you will need to commit to a communal CAUSE despite the fears of responsibility and accountability that accompany the role.

3. Fear of Failure

Remember when Peter got out of the boat and followed Jesus by doing the impossible? He walked on water (Matt 14). Last I checked, that was impossible. Others may have pointed their cynical fingers at him for getting out of the boat and scoffed at him when he began to sink, but he was the only one to get out of the boat and RISK the unbelievable. This was the kind of leader Jesus made head of his non-profit organization that would ultimately change the world.

4. Fear of the Unknown

The Israelites were promised victory in Canaan. But they were afraid to go because they heard rumors of insuperable giants that could never be overcome. Their hearts cowered in fear of the unknown. They never even crossed the Jordan for fear of what was on the other side. God let this entire generation die off in the wilderness before he found a younger generation whose hearts weren’t intimidated by the unknown. It was this NEXT GENERATION that took God at his word and followed him with reckless abandon into the unknown. They became world changers while the previous generation died in obscurity because they feared what was on the other side and didn’t have the courage to believe God and His WORD.

5. Miniscule Dreams

Small dreams keep people on the sideline because small dreaming makes us feel more safe and secure, because we don’t need God or vulnerable relationships with other people to see those dreams attained. This is spiritually devastating because it robs God of the glory he wants to get from our God-sized, interdependent VISIONEERING. If your vision isn’t BIG enough to need God or other people then your vision is TOO SMALL. “ONE” is too small a number to change the world. Too many people stay on the sidelines and merely watch others do great things because their dreams or vision doesn’t NEED other people, or the community that God wired us to live interdependently with. Many people mistakenly think they can be a part of something eternally significant apart from the church (Body of Christ). Lone rangers don’t change the world and they never shape eternity. If you want to be a part of shaping eternity, it will require a commitment to something BIGGER than SELF or the little dreams that can be attained by one person alone. God made us for community and something is lost when we diminish our CAUSE to something little enough to be accomplished by individuals.

CONCLUSION: Get over your apathy and you will lose your cynical spirit. Commit to a team and find that accountability will be one of your greatest growth facilitators. Get out of the boat and take risks others are afraid to take. Life is too short to play it safe. Jesus is looking for leaders with the reckless abandon of a Peter when others criticize and cower in fear. Get over your fear of the unknown. We don’t need to know where God is taking us as long as we know the HEART and can TRUST the ONE who is leading us. Stop dreaming small. Get over your small dreaming and begin to DREAM so big that you need God and community to see those dreams come to fruition.

Get off the sideline, commit to a team, and start making a difference today. Don’t let the devil keep you paralyzed for one minute longer than he already has. Life is too SHORT. And you don’t want to stand before God at the end of your journey knowing that you robbed God of His glory in your generation. Get off the sideline and begin to dance with your destiny.

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